Success!

You’ve made it to day one of the mini course.

Today we’re treating your back and shoulders.

Lots of surfers suffer from pain in their shoulder, back or neck because they don’t have enough mobility.

You might not be in pain, but if your mobility isn’t good enough:

  • you won’t paddle efficiently, so will get tired more quickly

  • you won’t paddle with maximum power, so you will struggle to take off quickly

Today we have two tests to see whether you have the mobility to paddle properly, followed by two exercises you can do if the tests uncover issues.

Let’s get started.

Upper body test one

Pass

  • You can hold this position for 45 seconds, feeling it in between your shoulder blades.

Fail

  • If you cannot hold this movement for 45 seconds it is a fail.

  • If you feel strain in any of the following places, it is also a fail:

    • the front or back of your neck

    • lower back

    • top of the shoulder

Failed? No worries…we’ve got the exercise so sort you out.

Upper body test two


Pass

Once you’ve found the right grip distance, if you can move the stick over and behind you in one clean movement, that is a pass.

You should feel the movement in between your shoulder blades and in your lats.

Fail

If you can’t move the stick over in a single clean movement, its a fail.

It is still a fail if you can successfully move the stick over in a single clean movement, but you feel the movement or stress through your:

  • neck

  • top of your shoulder, or

  • in your jaw

Failed the tests?

If you’ve failed the tests, you may have just found what is causing pain when you paddle, or preventing you from paddling with power.

We now have two exercises each with several progressions. These exercises will improve your mobility, so that you can paddle free of pain, with better technique.

Upper body exercise one

Sets and reps

Start with version one and build up to three sets of one minute.

Once this is too easy move on to the second version, and build up to three sets of one minute.

Upper body exercise two

This exercise is identical to the second test, so follow those exercise instructions.

Sets and reps

Begin using the band for three sets of twenty reps, resting for a minute between reps.

Stay with the band until you can complete each of the sets without strain in your neck or shoulders, and then move on to using the broom handle.

Build up to three sets of twenty reps with the broom handle.

Once you can do this, add a small weight to the broom handle, and build back up to three sets of twenty reps.